Forums Archive Index > Outdoor Power Equipment > SnowBlower Cab for the Snow blower? Pro's / Con's please.
Date: 17 Dec 2005 6:32 pm
Due to my every fogging glasses, which comes from being sooo bundled up with the jacket to the chin, warm hat and hood tied tightly around the face, I've been thinking about getting the Cab for the Toro.
But with every solution, there's some sort of compromise usually..
For those of you using a SnowBlower Cab...
Pro / Cons please?
If I do,
Should I go with a no name Cab that's 1/2 the price of the OEM branded one?
Or are they not worth it, and I should layout 2x the price and buy the OEM branded one?
( I have a Toro).
I figured with the Cab, I can loose the hood and not tie the jacket up to my chin! This way I won't overheat around the face and cause the glasses to fog.
I at times have no choice but to blow into the wind. I just have 2 places on my property to pile the snow up on. So there's no getting around the wind. I eat snow very often. hence the hood over the hat, I hate getting snow down my back.
Date: 17 Dec 2005 6:41 pm
:roll: Ramit,
Get a pair of Ski Goggles!!! :lol:
Save money over a cab, less storage space, and something else you will not have to maintain!!
Fred 8)
Date: 17 Dec 2005 6:56 pm
Is that you in the avatar Fred?
Date: 17 Dec 2005 7:24 pm
jubol wrote:
:roll: Ramit,
Get a pair of Ski Goggles!!! :lol:
Save money over a cab, less storage space, and something else you will not have to maintain!!
Fred 8)
Fred, I apperciate that, but I still can't be convinced that if my glasses are fogging soo bad now in free air, that covering more of my face, trapping more heat, isn't just going to compound the problem (my glasses fogging). The cab is a lot cheaper than prescription ski goggles and I don't have to change the prescription on the Cab as my eyes get worse! Bifocel Ski goggles in a year or two ? LOL..
The cab will let me de-bundle up my upper half a bit. I feel like that kid from that Christmas classic.. can't remember the name, the one about the Red Ryder BB gun.. you'll shoot your eye out.
Date: 17 Dec 2005 7:41 pm
I to had this question last year. I have now used my snow cab for last season and the beginning of this season.....here are some thoughts.
I always have alot of wind. I hate wind. I hate that cold slap in the face of blowing stinging snow. I like my cab. I bought the "offical Ariens" cab.
It seemed much higher quality then the aftermarket ones I saw. I paid $160.00 for it.
Pros- I do not have to bundle up near as much. I do not need my ski goggles anymore. I do not look like a snowman when I come in from snowblowing. The windshild never gets bilt up with snow.
Cons- after starting, (I have key start) I have to walk around the cab to adjust down the choke down 20 seconds after I start it. The light sometimes gets dimmer by the snow blowing over the clear light window. Not bad, but the light is a bit brighter without the snow cab. If I hit a rut with the blower and it lurches sideways a bit, my arm can hit the side of the snowcab a bit. It would not hurt the snowcab, but you may feel it in your arm. If you are transporting it in a pick-up, you would want to unsnap the cab so the wind does not catch it. You can no longer transport this in a pick-up that has a cap.
That's about all of the things bad I can think of. In short. I LOVE HAVING MY SNOW CAB. It was worth it for me.
Make sure you can get it into your garage or shed. On my monster 13 hp Ariens, the cab comes to 78.5 inches high and 31 inches wide. You can spread the frame wider or narrower depending on how big you are. I do not feel closterphobic (spelling??) in my cab.
It may seem pricey, but this accessory was way less then even 10% of the cost of the snowblower, and makes the task way more bearable.
Just my own opinion based on my situation. My advice is to try someone elses snowblower that already has a cab and see what you think......
Frank D.
Date: 17 Dec 2005 8:03 pm
A Christmas Story! :DQuote:
The cab will let me de-bundle up my upper half a bit. I feel like that kid from that Christmas classic.. can't remember the name, the one about the Red Ryder BB gun.. you'll shoot your eye out.
Date: 17 Dec 2005 8:57 pm
Can a snowman commit suicide?
Yes, by liquidating his assets...... :lol:
(Hey...you asked.)
Frank D.
Date: 18 Dec 2005 4:40 am
Marshall,
No, It is not me, just a husky ad !
Fred
Date: 18 Dec 2005 10:54 pm
twistedtrbl, thanks I kept thinking Christmas Carol.. and saying, no that's wrong..
Frank,
Thanks.
That's what I was wondering about.
Nice summary.
I think I may go for it.
While it keeps me from going thirsty, it's not easy blowing the snow with out the other set of eyeballs.
I think the no name ones are about $60 bucks around here.
And I think my ope dealer had the Toro for $120.
But if I can loose the hood, and lower the zipper from my chin, I think I'll stop the overheating and fogging of my coke bottles.
Date: 19 Dec 2005 12:39 pm
Have you tried any of the anti-fog products?
The high index plastic lenses seem to be a lot less susceptible to fogging. I've used them for shooting competitions and sailing (in addition to snow blowing) and don't find fogging to be a problem with them.
For the amount of manuevering it sounds like you do, a cab sounds like a PITA.
Date: 19 Dec 2005 1:33 pm
Garandman, I am worried about that, the maneuvering. Frank didn't seem to make much of it...
Frank, do you find if you need todo a lot of turning, that's there's an issue?
Great on straight runs?
I have tried a bunch of different solids that smear on for the anti fogging.
This year I'm going to try a wipe made for the car windshield from Rain-X.
I have glass for my "glasses". I'm so hard on my specs, that in a month all the plastic ones I've had (even with the scratch guard) were a mess.
Twice I've been talked into plastic by the eyeglass shop, twice I wholly regretted it. The next time they tried I made an issue about it, and after pushing one of the glasses places about it, they admitted that the scratch guard is a liquid film they apply and it doesn't last long.
I even manage to scratch the glass, glasses after about 6 months.
I'm just a klutz.
I do have one set of plastics that I kept as a spare and I buffed out with dremal( I know, I upset the prescription,, but that's better than no glasses at all when it comes to a spare set). I'll have to try them to experiment.
Thanks.
Date: 19 Dec 2005 1:40 pm
Ramit,
If you have a friend who skis and wears glasses , ask to borrow his
goggles and try them.
Also, if they work for skiers, they should work for you!!
Fred
Date: 19 Dec 2005 2:31 pm
jubol wrote:
Ramit,
If you have a friend who skis and wears glasses , ask to borrow his
goggles and try them.
Also, if they work for skiers, they should work for you!!
Fred
Good idea, but I dont know anyone that skis.
I can see how , with the wind in your face, the goggles can probably stay clear and such.
But with heavy activity, no air movement (compared to swooshing down a slope), my glasses fog, with totally free air around them, due to the heat of my face and moisture from my face/head, how is putting a heat/moisture trap around my glasses going to stop them from fogging? And don't say they are ventilated.. since without them I have even greater ventilation and they still fog!!!
So see, with that line of thinking, I don't see how they will stop my glasses from fogging.
I wont argue, since I never tried ski goggles, that the goggles may never fog.. it's my glasses I'm worried about !!
I apperciate the suggestions, but to me the science of it doesn't make sense, at least for my problem.
Do you see my logic??
There's no way that trapping MORE warm moist air will stop them from fogging. Now If I could get a mini ac unit to remove the moisture, and use the goggles to create the enclosure, I could see how we could control the fogging of the glasses.
It's like being in your car, you get in on a cold dry day and the windows fog right up.. not untill you blow warm DRY air on them do they defog..and the cars use the AC to help dry the air in the winter.
When I'm out working , I'm not producing dry warm air from my face.. being all bundled up, the point in my coat where my face is sticking out of is like a moist hot air chimney. I've even tried changing glasses, it's like - poof- fog when I put them on. I need to cool down, get rid of my hood ( the hood doesnt really keep my ears warm like the hat I have does) which I wear to keep the snow from flying down my back.
Frank put it well, I come out looking like a snowman !
I have to blow into the wind at times, I aim low and push forward, 80% of it gets where it's got to be going.. but I get dusted real well. !!
I would imagine now that with the new blower being over twice the HP and a much better machine, I'm in for more of a powdering then I was before.
Date: 19 Dec 2005 2:48 pm
Ramit, :lol:
If you are blowing into the wind, that is the same as sking downhill at about 20 MPH!!!
They work for me and a friend who borrowed mine after I did my blowing.
After using mine , he went out and bought a pair!!
You do not need real expensive ones, my friend paid $29.00 on Ebay to include shipping!!!
Also gives you good eye protection from flying objects!!!!!!!
Fred 8)
Date: 19 Dec 2005 4:35 pm
Well, at 20mph I probably wouldn't even get the 30% of the snow to go where I want it to!!!
They'd have to come out and chip me out of my encrusted tomb of snow!
Date: 19 Dec 2005 5:25 pm
I guess the best piece of advice would be, try it before you buy it....try to find someone who has one already....perhaps ask your dealer if he has sold any to anyone who you can contact.
As to manuverability, I'm not sure what is being asked. It does not impact manuverability at all. the wind does not seem to affect this at all, it does not take off or anything.....having the cab has not changed the manuverability in any way.
Frank D.
Date: 22 Dec 2005 1:40 pm
What's the difference between snowmen and snowwomen?
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Snowballs!!
Don't blame me, Frank started it!!
LL
Date: 22 Dec 2005 2:48 pm
snowballs,,, hehehe..
I went to my OPE dealer today, he has one coming in for someone else.
He was real busy, but thought the price was nearly 200 for the Toro one. And he said that the generic ones don't fit the Toros well at all.
He was also trying to talk me out of buying it even before we talked about price, for many reasons that don't effect me. I'll never be putting it in the back of my p/u and traveling with it. And I store in the garage for it's "on season" and in the shed ( where height would be a problem) on the off season. I have to run up tomorrow and take a look and he has to look up the price. I'm a bit discouraged, I figured maybe twice the price of the HD one size fits all which is $60. But $200.. uphm... too rich for me. I'll modified a set of snow goggles with a fan and a dryer first. !!!
Date: 22 Dec 2005 4:16 pm
Get snow goggles that would fit over eyeglasses. They are vented and were designed to be worn over glasses.
Date: 22 Dec 2005 4:21 pm
Ramit,
I sent you an Email on sno cabs.
Fred 8)
Date: 22 Dec 2005 4:36 pm
Fred thanks got it.
Seems like all nice stuff.
Found their online price list and application list..
http://www.originalcab.com/price_pdfs/General-Public_PriceList.pdf
For the Toros it says ~$190
For mine is says contact your Toro Dealer !!!
I can't win.
Thanks for trying.